Cannabis advocate questions proposal for male marijuana plants

While Government’s move to decriminalise marijuana is being hailed as a good step forward, there are questions over some of the proposals laid out in Parliament on Friday.

Douglas Gordon, the founder of CanEX, an annual cannabis Business Conference and Expo held in Jamaica, questioned who the Government consulted with about the allowance of four male plants that could be kept in a residence without a license.

“The plants that give the buds that you use to smoke are female. When you have a crop you try to get to rid of the males. It really speaks to who they are consulting with. If you promote male plants you are going to potentially damage the cannabis crop. Cross-pollination is the biggest threat to any Ganja crop, that is why you get rid of the males,” he said.

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He also questioned how the .police would be able to differentiate between male and female plants.

On the subject of fines, Gordon said the whole thing seems unduly complicated

“They have taken something and say let’s decriminalise it and then put all these layers of complications into the mix. What it suggests to me is that some of this is a reaction to public opinion or how do we make a step towards addressing the cost to the justice system. The onus seems to be on shifting the definition of punitive measures,” he said, noting that while he supports people getting out of jail, he hopes there is a programme to rehabilitate them.

Addressing the 30 percent guaranteed local content minimum for cannabis companies, Douglas said in Jamaica the threshold is 51 percent, so the Government could have gone higher.

He said for those who are interested in getting into the cannabis business, education is key.

“Start getting educated on the industry, go to conferences, go to dispensaries, read different publications. All of those are job number one. It is very important is to understand the different opportunities that exist. A lot of people rush into cultivation but that is much more complicated. It is important that people understand that because there are opportunities in extraction, research, and education.

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